How to frame your pot plants

A garden wall is the perfect place to grow plants, especially when your garden is small. These frames add a decorative touch.

• Polystyrene boards (50 mm x 1200 mm x 1000 mm), 1 per frame
• ½ bucket cement
• ½ bucket fine river sand
• ¼ bucket small building stone (13 mm)
• 1 box Plascon Rockset
• 2 pieces of thread bar per frame
• 1 wall plug and screw per frame
• 1 small terracotta pot per frame
• 1 piece of plywood or shutterboard
• Tacking screws
• Tape measure
• Pen
• Sraight edge
• Rubber mallet
• Sponge
• Drill
• Jigsaw
• Hammer
• Trowel

Step 1

Decide on the size of your frames and measure them out on the polystyrene boards. The width of the area to be filled with concrete must be 100 mm. Use a jigsaw to cut out the area to become the frame. Secure the polystyrene pieces onto a flat plywood surface using tacking screws.

Step 2

Mix the cement, river sand and building stone with enough water to make a sloppy mixture. Use a trowel to fill your frame mould with the freshly mixed concrete. Make sure you get the mix into the corners.

Step 3

Gently tap the frame mould with a rubber mallet to remove the air bubbles, then use a steel trowel to level the top of the frame mould for a smooth finish. Use a damp sponge to clean off any spillage. Keep the concrete damp for at least three days to gain strength. Remove the tacking screws and gently remove the frames from their moulds.

Step 4

Drill two holes into the wall, aligned with the inside corners of your frame. Mix a little bit of Plascon Rockset with water to form a paste. Take a small amount of the paste and put it into the holes in the wall. Dip one end of a thread bar into the Rockset paste and then push the thread bar into the hole in the wall (making sure a portion of it sticks out). Use more Rockset paste to fill in around the thread bar. Repeat this with the other thread bar. Leave for 10 minutes for the Rockset to dry, after which you can hang the frame on the thread bars.

Step 5

Attach the planting pot within the frame by drilling a hole and inserting a wall plug into the hole in the wall. Drill another hole (not on hammer mode) carefully into the lip of the pot and screw the pot into the plug.